A generic device of this type for the hydraulic control of gas exchange valves of a reciprocating internal combustion engine is known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,886,511 B1. In this device, each slave cylinder is assigned a displacement piston which is designed as a master actuator and which is connected to a cam arranged on a camshaft. The quantity of the hydraulic fluid supplied to each slave cylinder is controlled via a balancing piston, the abutment of which is governed by an actuating member. Furthermore, a supply line for low-pressure fluid, amongst others for the compensation of leakage losses, is connected to this device via a nonreturn valve. This known device requires a high outlay in terms of construction, since each gas exchange valve or each group of gas exchange valves is assigned a specific unit with an actuating member, etc.
It is known, furthermore, DE-28 13 132, to assign to each gas exchange valve a device for the hydraulic control of the gas exchange valves which consists of a slave cylinder and master cylinder, the control of the hydraulic fluid supplied to the respective slave cylinder taking place via a spill point at the master cylinder and/or slave cylinder.
This device, too, entails a correspondingly high outlay in structural terms.
Furthermore, a device for the hydraulic control of gas exchange valves is known, EP-1 273 770 A2, in which a slave cylinder and a master cylinder each are likewise provided, each unit being assigned a pressure accumulator in which the quantity of hydraulic fluid not intended for the slave cylinder is stored when the control apparatus keeps the spill point into the pressure accumulator open. In this device, the outlay in structural terms is even greater, because the pressure accumulator and the control apparatus are separated.